The most widespread difficulty that voters face on election day is getting to their assigned polling places during working hours. It is generally the case in all or almost all of the United States' states, federal districts, territories, and possessions, that on election day each voter must cast his vote in one and only one unique polling place, that is normally assigned to him based on his residence. This requirement can pose insurmountable obstacles to working people, particularly those who work long hours or commute to work.
Although a voter might spend his entire day at his workplace, he can only vote at the assigned or “home” polling place nearest his residence, which may be as far away from his workplace as a two-hour commute. There is a very good reason that people are required to cast their votes at one and only one unique polling place: the reason is that each precinct represents a particular overlapping of multiple jurisdictions. For example, a voter in Precinct 00076 and a voter in Precinct 00077 might live in the same U.S. House District, the same State Legislative District, but different City Council Districts; therefore, the Precinct 00076 voter and the Precinct 00077 voter must use different ballots on election day.
Another difficulty that voters sometimes face on election day is the breakdown of voting machines. When voting machines break down on election day, voters have no choice but to use paper ballots. The requirement that each voter cast his vote in one and only one unique polling place prevents voters from traveling to other polling places where the machines still work.
In New York (New York in this document meaning the entire state of New York including New York City, and is also known as “New York State”) (New York City in this document is the five boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island), for example, each machine at each polling place is precinct-specific, such that each voter must use one and only one unique machine. If one machine breaks down at a polling place in New York, the voters at that polling place cannot use any of the other machines but must instead use paper ballots. Paper ballots are more time-consuming to use, harder to count, and face the added problem of enjoying a lower level of voter confidence that they will accurately be counted, if at all.
Another difficulty that voters sometimes face is a statewide distribution of voting machines that may be inadequate to local voting needs. It is sometimes the case that one polling place will have more voting machines than it needs, while another polling place has too few. It is also sometimes the case that one polling place will receive older voting machines more prone to breaking down while another polling place will be stocked entirely by the newest and most reliable voting machines. The result will always be that a polling place with too few voting machines or too many broken voting machines will produce long lines and long waits for would-be voters. Many voters, regardless of the strength of their patriotism and commitment to voting, will simply be unable, for reasons of health or employment, to spend several hours waiting in line to vote.
Yet another difficulty that voters sometimes face is the casting of provisional ballots at the wrong polling places. Under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), a voter who shows up to a polling place, but whose name is not found on the voting rolls at that polling place, is entitled to cast a provisional ballot. Public Law 107-252, §302(a). It is sometimes the case on election day that a properly registered voter shows up to a polling place other than the one assigned to him. In such an instance, the voter's name will not appear on the voting rolls for the precincts covered by that polling place. Such a voter, although he is properly registered to vote and although his name does appear on the voting rolls at his assigned polling place (unbeknownst to poll workers at the polling place where he has mistakenly arrived to vote), will be issued a provisional ballot according to HAVA. But, according to Electionline.org's March 2005 Briefing, published by the Election Reform Information Project, in the 2004 elections, 28 states did not count provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct in 2004.
Still another problem that voters sometimes face is the failure to record a vote by absentee ballot. Voters sometimes fail to cast recorded absentee votes for either of two reasons. One is that, although procedures vary from state to state, the difficulty of absentee voting procedures in some states can lead to high numbers of unrecorded or uncast votes due to improperly completed absentee ballots or improperly completed requests for absentee ballots. The other is that people are sometimes called away from home on short notice without foreseeing the need to request an absentee ballot.